Letters

Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to le*****@oc******.com, or send to Letters to the Editor, c/oOC Weekly, 1666N.MainSt.,Ste.500,SantaAna,CA92701.Orfaxto(714)550-5908.

PRETTYVACANT

Gee, I wish I could take exception to your comment about girls at the University of the Pacific in Stockton being unattractive [Gustavo Arellano's “Girls Gone Not So Wild,” Feb. 4]. But I must confess that at the end of my first semester at UOP, I wrote a friend back home in Newport Beach that there were “no pretty girls here; it's really depressing.” When I told my freshman roommate the same thing, I thought he'd tell me not to be so critical. Instead, he said that when his mother came to the UOP campus, she said, “[This place] has no beautiful women.” That's what my roommate's mothersaid.

KurtMoore
NewportBeach

RACEY

You pretend to be progressive, hip and cutting-edge, yet you insult me and all Mexicans with your Ask a Mexican!poor-excuse-of-a-wannabe-cute-in-a-Gringo-sort-of-way column. Let me ask Gustavo Arellano a question: Where are your huevos, ese?Are you that hard up to get your name in the paper that you're going to let these pinchegabachosdo with you and your razawhatever they please in order to propagate a message that on its face seems forward-reaching but is actually sponsored by the perversion that is rotting this society?

JorgeCastro
viae-mail

Ask a Mexican! is the pinchefunniest thing in your paper. The one about selling oranges was chistoso [Feb. 4]!

JuanArturoMarmolejo
(Thebiggestpocho ever)Anaheim

I know that OCWeeklyis a far-left publication, but your racist depiction of Condoleezza Rice in a political cartoon with big lips and bucked teeth goes over the line [Lloyd Dangle's Troubletown, Jan. 28]. I am a 50-year-old, African-American male who used to be a Jimmy Carter Democrat and was just as left as you guys are in my beliefs. But you guys have gone too far. Your hate-filled commentary and racist cartoons do nothing but expose your true character. You guys keep on running people away from the left and into the arms of the Republicans. Wise up and grow up, or you will be such a minority in this country no one is going to give a damn what you say.

KelvinBrown
FountainValley

Theeditorresponds:Asyoumentioned,Troubletownisapoliticalcartoon,andpoliticalcartoonistshavealwaysusedthephysicalcharacteristicsofpowerfulpeopleasameanstolampoonthem.Rice,byanymeasure,isanenormouslypowerfulfigurewhohappenstohave—c'mon—afunkymouth.Mouths,bytheway,havebeenafavoritetargetforcartoonists,andotherfamous—andwhite—pie-holetargetsincludeTeddyandFranklinRoosevelt,aswellassomeoneyoumaybefamiliarwith,JimmyCarter.

PRAISEY

I appreciate Jim Washburn sooooo much, especially after reading his response to Chuck Rose, who must have a warped sense of understanding of time lines and history, judging by his obsession with Clinton's indiscretion [Letters, Feb. 11]. Remember, there are sins of weakness (Clinton's) that did not result in a war or loss of lives or injuries beyond repair. Then there are sins of malice (Bush's), in which our young men and women were led into this invasion without legitimate cause, and then he made it appear as though we went to Iraq to liberate the poor people. Which is the worse sin?

PamMorris
SantaAna

CATHOLICGUILT

Gustavo Arellano is right: in the wake of the clergy sex-abuse settlement in Orange County, it seems some church officials are working overtime to make sure Bishop Tod Brown gets plenty of praise [“The All-Spin Zone,” Jan. 14]. Sadly, some forget the true heroes in all this. When it comes to abusive clergy, police can't investigate them, prosecutors can't charge them, juries can't convict them, judges can't sentence them, bishops can't remove them, and parents can't be warned about them UNLESS wounded-but-courageous victims find the strength and courage to report these dangerous predators. These brave men and women—who have been betrayed, first by a trusted parish priest, then again by a complicit church leader—deserve the credit for helping to make Orange County's children safer.

DavidClohessy
NationalDirector,SurvivorsNetwork
of
thoseAbusedbyPriests(SNAP)
St.Louis

It is fantastic that Gustavo Arellano is now posting documents from the Church on the Weekly'swebsite. A wonderful public service.

PaulBaier
BishopAccountability.org

I wanted to let you know that I very much appreciate your ongoing efforts to expose the truth, especially by posting documents like the one on Michael Harris.

LeeBashforth
OrangeCounty

Since when do people's medical files or psychiatric profiles, like those of Michael Harris, become public records? Isn't there some kind of privilege here? It's important these abusers be brought to justice. However, it disturbs me that privacy safeguards are thrown to the winds in order to publish stories as if accused people lose their rights because it's the Church that's involved. You need to weigh more carefully what you are doing because some ugly precedents are being set.

FatherVilla
viae-mail

GustavoArellanoresponds:WhenRyanDiMariawon$5.2millionfromHarris,theDioceseofOrangeandtheArchdioceseofLosAngelesin2001,hislawyersfoughtallthewaytotheCaliforniaSupremeCourttoensurethatHarris'St.Luke'sreportbecamepublicrecord.Theywon.

DEPARTMENTOFCORRECTIONS

In Gustavo Arellano's “Loftus' Luster Lost” [Feb. 18], Louis Gottschalk is referred to as “the personal psychologist to former Mater Dei and Santa Margarita High Principal Michael Harris.” Actually, Gottschalk is a psychiatrist who treated Harris.

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